SACSCOC Fifth Year Interim Report
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Assessment : 2012 - 2013 : Educational Programs :
Business Foundation
Business Foundation
1 Goal 3 Objectives 8 Indicators 8 Criteria 7 Findings 5 Actions
| GOAL: Basic Knowledge And Competency In The Subject Areas Essential To All Business Professionals |
| Objective |
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| Students will be able to compose effective business messages using accepted standards of Engish in the use of grammar and punctuation, sentence structure, and paragraph design. In addition, students should have a basic knowledge of formatting business documents (memos, business reports, and direct, indirect and persuasive strategies). |
| Indicator |
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| This academic year, business communication faculty will assess samples of student writing across the business disciplines for writing quality and document formatting; subject area instructors will evaluate the discipline-specific content of each sample. The composite performance of the students, as measured by a common rubric developed by the business communication faculty, will indicate the communication competency level. |
| Criterion |
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| At least 80% of sampled students must meet expectations on the Writing Assessment Rubric for Business Disciplines. The rubric was developed by the business communication faculty and has three performance elements: format, content/organization, and writing. Reviewers will indicate whether the student writing samples exceed, meet, or are below standard expectations. To ensure inter-rater reliability, each sample will be reviewed independently by two reviewers; in the event of a disagreement, a third reviewer will perform a final evaluation of the sample. |
| Finding |
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1) Of those disciplines submitting viable samples, MGMT/HRM, MKTG, GBA, and INB met expectations on format; 46% of FIN majors met expecations on format. 2) Of those disciplines submitting viable writing samples, MGMT/HRM, GBA, and INB met expectations on content; 40% of FIN majors met expectations on content. 3) Of those disciplines submitting viable samples, MGMT/HRM, MKTG, FIN, GBA and INB met expectations on writing; of those disciplines, 27% of MGMT/HRM majors exceeded expectations; 13% of MKTG majors exceeded expectations; 53% of FIN majors exceeded expectations; 13% of GBA majors exceeded expectations; and 100% of INB majors exceeded expectations. See attachments for number of samples submitted in each discipline and ranking by performance level. |
Actions for Objective:
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| Business communications faculty will present a workshop on the use of a common rubric for assessing writing in all business disciplines. In the workshop, a demonstration of how rubrics can be used effectively will be conducted. All business faculty will be involved with the demonstration. This will give them hands on experience with the process. Their input will be solicited to develop a common writing rubric for COBA. |
| GOAL: Basic Knowledge And Competency In The Subject Areas Essential To All Business Professionals |
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The business person must be able to recognize problems arising from the issues in their areas of responsibility , discriminate between the relevant and irrelevant data , and apply the appropriate concepts from the appropriate business discipline. |
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Administration of the Critical thinking Assessment Test ( CAT) to a sample of students in a foundation Course and Faculty evaluation of the test, followed by verification by the test creator. |
| Criterion |
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| Cat test to be evaluated by faculty from all disciplines in the college. Evaluations to be made in compliance with the test creators specifications. the evaluations to be compared by test supplier to national results. |
| Finding |
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The CAT was administered toward the end of the spring semester to 42 students. Faculty from all the Departments of the college were trained in the exams method of evaluation. They then reviewed the 42 exams according to the scoring standards accompaning the test. Responses wer then forwarded to the Test creator who verified the scoring and comared our scores to national data. The results were reported back in four categories: Evaluation And interpretation of infromation 47.6% Problem solving 38.4% Creative thinking 27.2% Effective communication 28.0% The attached chart reflects comparisson of our students to the national data by the skill assessed. On three of the questions SHSU students had a mean number of points earned which was much lower than the national mean. These three questions involved problem solving and effective communication. |
Actions for Objective:
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| Spring 2013 was the first time that we used the CAT exam in the College of Business. Now that we have some experience in its use we plan on expanding its use to a larger sample of students. Tennatively, we plan on administering the exam to a sophmore level class and to a senior level class. The specific courses have not yet been determined. |
| GOAL: Basic Knowledge And Competency In The Subject Areas Essential To All Business Professionals |
| Objective |
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| Students should be able to demonstrate competency in the principles of accounting, business statistics, business law, economics, finance, management, marketing and management information systems. |
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| Common questions are embedded in the final exams of multiple sections of ACCT 2301 and ACCT 2302. Student performance on these questions is an indicator of how well COBA students are learning the fundamentals of accounting. |
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| The number of correct responses to the common questions for each objective divided by the number of attempts to the common questions for each objective should equal at least 60%. |
| Finding |
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ACCT 2301: The following course objectives were assessed. (1) gain a basic knowledge of the precise terminology, procedures and techniques used in identifying, organizing and reporting accounting information for business entities (Successful Response Rate: 69.9%) (2) learn fundamental principles and concepts underlying the valuation and disclosure of financial statement accounts (Successful Response Rate: 68.8%) (3) develop a basic understanding of the economic information contained in company financial statements and what it communicates about the business (Successful Response Rate: 69.6%) (4) recognize accounting information as essential to business decision-making (Successful Response Rate: 45.2%) Aggregate Successful Response Rate over all objectives: 68.3% ACCT 2302 The following course objectives were assessed. 1. Understanding of the role and scope of financial and managerial accounting and the use of accounting (Successful Response Rate: 70.5%) 2. Understanding various terms and concepts and their appropriate uses including the idea of using (Successful Response Rate: 77.7%) 3. Obtaining a level of proficiency in various calculations that are routinely used in financial and managerial accounting such as debt and equity financing and investments, preparation of a statement of cash flows, product cost determination, C-V-P analysis, and budgeting. (Successful Response Rate: 76.8%) 4. Becoming aware of the behavioral implications of financial and managerial accounting in virtually all aspects of business activity. (Successful Response Rate: 73.4%) Aggregate Successful Response Rate over all objectives: 76.0% |
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| Common questions are embedded in the final exams of multiple sections of FINC 3320. Student performance on these questions across the various sections is an indicator of how well COBA students are learning the fundamentals of finance. |
| Criterion |
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| Final exams in FINC 3320 will include embedded questions covering each of the course learning objectives. Each of these questions should have a 70% correct response rate or better. |
| Finding |
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Overall, 62.3% of embedded questions were answered correctly. Performance on individual learning objectives is detailed below: 1. Understand the role of the financial manager: 67.8% 2. Understand the basics of financial statements and their analysis: 71.9% 3. Understand the principles of Time Value of Money: 67.2% 4. Understand the basics of bond and stock valuation: 55.1% 5. Understand cash flow estimation and apply basic capital budgeting methods: 59.4% 6. Understand the basics of risk and return: 66.7% 7. Understand the basics of corporate financing (capital structure): 42.3% 8. Understand the basics of international financial management: 62.0% |
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All MKTG 3310 students will take exams at the beginning of the semester and then retake the same exam at the end of the semester. Multiple professors teaching multiple sections of MKTG 3310 administer the same exam. The combined results are an indicator of how well COBA students are learning the principles of marketing. |
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| Students taking a pre-test and post-test in MKTG 3310 will earn a mean score significantly better on the post-test than on the pre-test. |
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| Common questions are embedded in the final exams of multiple sections of BUAD 2301. Student performance on these questions across the various sections is an indicator of how well COBA students are learning the fundamentals of business law. |
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| Common questions embedded in the BUAD 2301 final exam cover the U.S. Constitution, the origins of our legal system, dispute resolutions, and torts. Students should be able to answer at least 70% of the questions correctly. |
| Finding |
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The assessment and analysis is done using a pre and post tests to determine whether the students have made advances in the core learning objectives. The course is divided into five core units and the pre and posttests cover questions from each of the courses core units. The questions were developed by the entire faculty that teach this course. The students of BUAD 2301 Legal Environment courses took a pre-test at the beginning of the semester and achieved an average 55% correct for all five units tested. On the posttest there were significant gains in the students learning outcomes. In the Origins of Law unit, GBA Majors scored 90.1%, Non-GBA Business Majors scored 80% and Non-Business Majors scored 82.6%. The faculty believes that this increase is based in part on the increased time in this area of the curriculum. Since the assessment process began five years ago, there has been a continual focus on this very difficult area for students. The Origins of Law unit is the foundation for the course and as a result of the assessment process, faculty have learned that if students do not perform well on this first unit they struggle with the remaining material all semester. The second, area of significant increase in performance was in the Business Entities section. In past semesters this was an area of difficulty for students. Instructors reorganized the core material in this unit. This change increased student performance in this unit. All majors scored a 60.1% on the pretest. GBA majors improved on the posttest with a score of 86.2%. Non Business majors had an even greater increase and scored 88.4%. The greatest improvement in this section was made by the Non-GBA Business majors with a score of 90.1%. This assessment cycle, as in prior cycles, the Business Entities Unit is a challenge for a majority students. The faculty are working to create more hands-on application based assignments for students. It is the goal of the faculty that if the student have to actually work through how to form a particular business entity this process will aide them in better understanding the unit's material. |
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All MGIS 3310 students will take exams at the beginning of the semester and then retake the same exam at the end of the semester. Multiple professors teaching multiple sections of MGIS 3310 administer the same exam. The combined results are an indicator of how well COBA students are learning the principles of management information systems. |
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| Students taking a pre-test and post-test in MGIS 3310 will earn a mean score significantly better on the post-test than on the pre-test. |
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| Common questions are embedded in the final exams of multiple sections of BANA 2372 and BANA 3363. Student performance on these questions across the various sections is an indicator of how well COBA students are learning the fundamentals of business statistics. |
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| Final exams in BANA 2372 and BANA 3363 will include embedded questions covering topics considered to be essential by all Business Analysis faculty. Each of these questions should have a 70% correct response rate or better. |
| Finding |
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LO1: Understand the differences and similarities between hypothesis tests and confidence intervals and know when it is appropriate to use them (75.0% correct) LO2: Be able to infer about parameter values in a single population (60.0% correct) LO3: Be able to infer about parameter values in multiple populations (72.5% correct) LO4: Understand regression analysis and be able to interpret regression output (87.5% correct) LO5: Be familiar with how inferential statistics is used in business environments (70.0% correct) |
| Finding |
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Twelve questions were embedded into the final exam of 4 sections of BANA 2372. The table below represents the results for 159 students. The third column represents the number of students that missed the question. The percentage represents the proportion of students who got the question correct. Question % Correct Probability 1 79 50% Profit Max. 2 68 57% Sampling Dist 3 87 45% Future Value 4 56 65% Using CPI 5 99 4% Deriv. FOC 6 85 47% Joint Prob. 7 22 86% Conditional Pr 8 94 41% Normal Dist. 9 58 64% Discrete Pr 10 87 45% Binomial Pr 11 66 58% Linear Functions 12 45 72% |
Actions for Objective:
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| This assessment cycle, as in prior cycles, the Business Entities Unit is a challenge for a majority students. The faculty are working to create more hands-on application based assignments for students. It is the goal of the faculty that if the student have to actually work through how to form a particular business entity this process will aide them in better understanding the unit's material. |
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ACCT 2301: All findings but one exceeded the minimum criteria and all findings but one improved over last year's findings. The findings for Objective 4 [i.e., recognize accounting information as essential to business decision-making] suggest that students have difficulty with that objective and more emphasis is warranted. Last year's finding was 47%; this year's finding is 45%. In future semesters ACCT 2301 faculty should place more emphasis on Objective 4 and perhaps evaluate if a change in pedagogy might improve student comprehension, as well as consider other action as determined by faculty judgment. ACCT 2302: Though all findings exceeded the minimum criteria, ACCT 2302 faculty should continue to emphasize all objectives so as to prevent future learning deterioration as well as determine how student learning could be improved. |
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1) For fall 2013, we reorganized the course learning objectives to streamline them and avoid duplication. It was determined that two of the course learning objectives should actually be included as part of other objectives: learning objective 2 (financial statements) is actually included in objective 5 (capital budgeting), and learning objective 4 (bond and stock valuation) is actually a part of objective 7 (corporate financing). We decided to eliminate learning objective 8 (international financial management) since neither finance majors nor BBA candidates are required to complete a course on this topic in their programs. We also prioritized the objectives based on importance. The new learning objectives for the course in the future – in order of relative importance – are as follows1. Understand the principles of Time Value of Money (TVM) 2. Understand the role of the financial manager – including ethics and corporate governance 3. Understand cash flow estimation and apply basic capital budgeting methods 4. Understand the basics of risk and return 5. Understand the basics of corporate financing ??? 2) For assessment of Finance majors and Banking and Financial Institutions majors, we decided to integrate these objectives with the assessment process for higher skills in the required advance courses. This will either provide additional verification that our students know the material or provide us with additional data on where we need to improve our instruction. |
| Previous Cycle's "Plan for Continuous Improvement" |
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CLOSING THE LOOPS FOR ACCOUNTING BUSINESS KNOWLEDGE:
Findings were shared with all ACCT 2301 and ACCT 2302 faculty. The GAT Accounting Coordinator met with the ACCT 2301 and 2302 Course Coordinators to jointly derive the Accounting Action Items, which were also shared with 2301 and 2302 faculty. The course coordinators will assure the faculty place additional emphasis as needed in the Fall 2012 semester. |
| Update on Previous Cycle's "Plan for Continuous Improvement" |
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PLAN for BUAD 2301: In the General Business Law area, based on previous assessment results additional on-line resources have been created to assist students and aid their learning in areas of historical weakness. This modification has provided increases in students understanding of the core material. However, students continue to struggle with the Business Entity section of the course. The Business Entity section focuses on different types of business formation, corporations, limited liability partnerships, general partnerships and sole proprietorships. Faculty believe that this continues to be an area of weakness since it requires students to really use critical thinking skills and truly apply the material that they have learned. Students are generally provided a fact pattern and asked to evaluate the risks and benefits of each type of formation. This exercise forces students to use cognitive skills that some students lack. In addition, students will be provided the opportunity to complete the actual entity formation paperwork in a hands-on project. This real-life application project will enable the students to have a better understanding of each type of entity formation.
Based on the assessment results, further on-line tutorials and on-line chapter reviews need to be created. This will allow the student to work on individual areas of weakness. CLOSING THE LOOPS FOR ACCOUNTING BUSINESS KNOWLEDGE [Update]: ACCT 2301 faculty placed additional emphasis on Objective 4 in Fall 2012 and Spring 2013 semesters. Review of 2012 data indicated no change in student achievement. |
| Plan for Continuous Improvement |
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Because the Business Foundation covers a wide spectrum of courses, we would like to gather data from a greater number of courses. To make this task more manageable, we are examining the use of the Blackboard Assessment package to automatically gather data from across the curriculum by use of categorical tags on each question contained in Blackboard.
Our findings indicate that students continue to have difficulty with grammar/mechanics and content/organization. Because the business curriculum has a course dedicated to business presentation skills (BUAD 2321), the business communications faculty have agreed to drop the oral presentation component from BUAD 3335; this will allow faculty almost two full weeks to devote to additional writing instruction. To enhance students' grammar/mechanics skills, business communications faculty have reviewed several new textbooks and will adopt Schwom and Snyder's Business Communication: Polishing Your Professional Presence for BUAD 3335. Students will take a grammar/mechanics pre-test at the beginning of the Fall 2013 Semester, followed by text editing exercises that build on basic grammar skills at the end of each chapter; after completing the series, and reinforcing their skills on the required writing assignments throughout the semester, student will take a comprehensive grammar test at the end of the semester. Score differences will be compared in the pre- and post-testing; writing will be analyzed to determine progress in this area. Business communications faculty will also design several case approaches that stimulate students' critical thinking skills in the business report writing segment of the course. ACCT 2301 faculty will place additional emphasis on Objective 4 (i.e., recognize accounting information as essential to business decision-making) in Fall 2013 and Spring 2014 semesters. |